Travel to another planet with Jack when he drives by one otherworldly track rig after another. This might be the best video yet so don’t give up half way through when there’s a lull in the traffic…there are more of these crazy rigs coming! (There’s music but it’s quiet at the beginning.)
In this one and a half minute video, Jack drives over the pipeline then has to wait in back of another truck while a grader finishes clearing the road. Then he continues on down the hill – you can see the grader on the left. (Don’t forget, the video is in HD so don’t watch it blurry!)
Jack drives by Pump Station 2 on the left and then some storage units on the right… otherwise it’s just him and the road. Life could be worse!
About an hour after leaving Prudhoe Bay, Jack meets a pilot car for an over-sized load so he stops at a pull-out and waits. You’ll see the trucks in back of the big load go around it, then a truck that will be traveling faster than Jack goes ahead of him.
The big load is a 400,000 pound mod (modular unit) and there were four 70,000 pound push trucks to get it from Fairbanks to the last hill which is about 60 miles south of Prudhoe. Only one push truck is needed to get it the rest of the way into Prudhoe and that’s the one you can see here.
(Your volume needs to be turned up on this one.)
Here’s a new video of Jack driving into Fairbanks the other night, sped up so it’s not too tedious. It’s pretty late so not much is going on. Some trucks cleaning up the Steese Highway, that’s about it. It’s in HD so don’t let YouTube show you a poor quality video, if you have decent internet. And it does have some music on it so you may want to reduce the volume if you are sensitive to that. When you add music through YouTube, you can’t determine the volume, so it’s loud.
Jack is driving a new truck, a Freightliner. He’s discussed this a little in the comments section of the About page. Jesse Aird asked: “Why the Freightliner? Hard to beat a W9.” Jack answered:
“Well, my bosses asked me if I wanted to try it out and I know a lot of owner operators have them up here and like them, so I did. Turns out the engine is great (DD16), there’s lots of room in the cab, and I don’t feel exhausted at the end of several trips in a row, maybe because of the comfortable seat. The truck rides better. I don’t care what brand it is as long as it’s comfortable and reliable.”
He added to Pete Wylie aka Straight Arrow: “There is something about the Freightliner that makes a better ride. It takes bumps better.”
So there you have it, why Jack is driving a Freightliner.
Happy New Year!
Jack finally took a video of driving down the road. It seems like a silly thing to do but people have requested more videos and this one shows what most of his job is like, on the good days. 🙂
(If these appear blurry change your resolution settings on the bottom right side of the player.)
Happy New Year!!
